Here
Be Monsters is the true account of Captain Jason Seabury, young
master of New Bedford whaleship Monongahela, reported to
have captured and killed a sea serpent in the Pacific Ocean on January
13, 1851.

“The
tail and head would occasionally appear in the surging bloody
foam, and a sound was heard, so dead, unearthly, and expressive
of acute agony, that a shrill of horror ran through our veins.”

– Jason Seabury, Master, whaleship Monongahela, 1851.

Something
horrible occurred in the Bering Sea at the end of the 1853 bowhead whaling
season. The 500-ton New Bedford whaleship Monongahela, with twenty-eight
year old Captain Jason Seabury and crew of thirty-three, was mysteriously
destroyed and lost. In the icy waters swirling around her sinking hull a mystery
and a monster were also lost.

Here
Be Monsters! Centuries ago cartographers tried to make their charts as accurate
as possible, including any known hazards to be encountered by ships sailing
the deep oceans. They included depictions of sea monsters indicating, "Hic
sunt dracones." They weren't just cute caricatures to decorate the
charts, they were serious warnings.

Sea
serpents have been sighted and known for thousands of years. Ancient Vikings,
great sailors and explorers of unknown seas of the world, adorned the prows
of their boats with sea serpent figures, and displayed sea serpents on their
jewelry. The Viking god Jörmungandr was a sea serpent that encircled
the Earth. A series of petroglyphs located in the Petroglyph Provincial
Park, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, BC in part depicts whale-like sea monsters,
complete with forelimbs, crocodilian snout, and large eyes; they closely
match the sea monster reportedly captured by Jason Seabury. These petroglyphs
were made by a civilization of people before written language, and date
to approximately 1000 BC. These rock writings depict what these people knew,
and recorded great events. Why would they depict sea monsters? Note the
similarity with the earliest recorded sighting by Olaus Magnus in 1550 (see
detail in the section, Sea Serpents.) The illustration on the right below
is the Olaus Magnus sea serpent. All had similar features although they
were widely spread over time and place. Coincidence? I think not.

NanaimoSea
Serpents, 1000 BC

Olaus
Magnus Sea Serpent, 1550

On
October 1,
1850 Captain Jason Seabury sailed the New Bedford whaleship Monongahela
to the newly opened bowhead whaling grounds beyond Bering Strait in the
Arctic Ocean. On February 24, 1852 the New-York DailyTribune
published a lengthy account by Seabury, brought back by another whaleship
while Monongahela continued to hunt the bowhead. The manuscript
was his first-hand account of the capture of a sea serpent. The story
was immediately picked up by almost every newspaper around the world and
became the talk of societies around the world.

Photograph of Jason Seabury from the Steve Crandell
Collection.

The
narrative is still debated today. There are many authors who tell their
version of the story, including "new information." Not one of
them, from 1852 until now, has been correct, but all have fired the confusion
and controversies with inaccuracies, assumptions and plagerism by other
authors. It has been labeled a hoax by many due to the lack of evidence
and contradictory statements.

Famed
cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans wrote in his book, In the Wake of
the Sea-Serpents (1968), that there are “signs that this fantastic
hoax may after all have had a germ of fact. To unravel the whole confused
story would require much more time and careful research than I have been
able to give it.”

I
have done the research and unraveled the facts that have been lost for over
155 years. The complete story reveals a much more fascinating true account
of what happened than previously thought. There is much more to it. Is it
true? I am writing a book, Here Be Monsters: The Great Sea
Serpent Caught At Last!, which examines all facts including many that
have been long hidden and unknown. This web site is to provide some background,
sample chapters and additional chapters that I have cut from the book. Is
the account true? The account is based on six very true, related stories
intertwined resulting in this true account. Please read the book when it
becomes available and you will fully understand this greatest of sea mysteries.
Meanwhile, please read the sample chapters. I would appreciate your feedback,
comments and questions.